Winning against WI not a true indication of how good the Indian team is: Glenn McGrath

Legendary Australian pacer Glenn McGrath has said that India’s series victory against West Indies is not a true indicator of their true potential. McGrath, who is currently in Chennai as the director of coaching at MRF Pace Foundation, said that tough test awaits for the Indian team when England and New Zealand visit them later this year.

“The West Indies are not the Test team they used to be. India have played well and will take confidence from the victory. But then, winning the Test series against Windies is probably not a true indication of how good this Indian Test team is. They will be at home when they face New Zealand and England and will be tough to beat,” opined McGrath while interacting with the journalists.

On Indian Test skipper Virat Kohli, the retired pacer said: “You need fighting spirit and controlled aggression to be successful. I don’t think Virat has had the best series against West Indies. He hasn’t scored as many runs as we would have wanted him to score. But he is a quality player.”

McGrath said that Kohli’s aggression and Kumble’s experience will help the Indian cricket to make good progress.

“Kumble has years of experience and is respected widely. Both (Kohli and Kumble) of them have started out in their respective jobs and have a lot of energy and the right attitude. So things are looking good for Indian cricket,” said McGrath.

With the Duleep Trophy all set to be played with the pink ball, the 46-year old expressed his excitement over how the ball behaves in subcontinental conditions.

“Back home, we found out that if we don’t leave a little grass on the wicket, the pink ball gets ripped a bit quickly. So in subcontinent conditions, it will be interesting to see what sort of wickets they produce and how the ball holds up. Pink ball cricket is the way forward. If it’s successful in India, then it will be happy days for the game. But it’s going to be tough to get the conditions right,” he added.

With the prospect of cricket being included in the Olympics gathering steam in recent times, McGrath said that he cannot see a reason as why the game cannot be included in the Olympics.

“With the advent of rugby sevens, I can’t see why cricket shouldn’t be allowed in the Olympics. I liked it when cricket was added to the Commonwealth Games. Even though I missed out due to an injury, it felt great to see the cricketers at the Commonwealth village,” he said.

An avid sports lover, i always wanted to pursue a career in football. But just like the millions out there i did not put in the hard work needed to achieve my dream and now i have become a fan instead of the player. Anyway, writing for sports has kept me closer to this field. One more thing, yours sincerely is a die-hard Liverpool fan.
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